Five haunting reasons why you need to see The Last Self Tape

Ailun Zhou’s The Last Self Tape arrives at the Cockpit this November, a raw and darkly funny one-woman show that turns the familiar world of online auditions into something far more intimate and unsettling. Here are five reasons why it should be on your must-see list:

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1. It will make you laugh 

A truth of our times: every actor’s casting director is a tripod.

The Last Self Tape is a one-woman show – not for the sake of it, but because our protagonist, Chloe, really is alone in that room. In a tiny space, she gives everything – tears, charm, desperation – to an object that can’t clap, care, or even blink. There’s something painfully funny about that kind of loneliness: performing your heart out for a machine, hoping it might somehow love you back.

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2. Because it’s funny – until it isn’t – a story not just about acting, but about facing yourself

Chloe is doing everything alone… just like all of us. You’ll laugh, then you’ll stop laughing, then you’ll start questioning yourself.

Beneath the camera and the rehearsed smiles, The Last Self Tape becomes something far deeper – a portrait of what happens when performance ends and truth begins. Chloe’s journey is every person’s quiet battle: to stop pretending, to stay honest, and to recognise the stranger staring back from the screen.

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3. Because it’s cheaper than therapy – and the lighting is better

A woman, a camera, and a complete emotional breakdown – and still, there’s hope. The Last Self Tape doesn’t make you feel worse about the world; it quietly reminds you that even when everything seems to collapse, we can still feel, still care, still go on.

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4. Because it’s a bold cross-cultural collaboration – between a Chinese actor and a British director, telling one human story

The Last Self Tape is written by Ailun (Ellen) Zhou and co-written by Robert Price. Zhou is a London-based Chinese actor and writer, trained at Shanghai Theatre Academy, LAMDA, and ArtsEd. Price is a theatre director and acting teacher specialising in voice. This isn’t a British story or a Chinese story – it’s a human one. The collaboration bridges two worlds, two aesthetics, and two ways of telling stories. It reveals something both simple and vast – that art can hold the beauty of two cultures, and the shared vulnerability of being human.

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5. This creative team may not be household names — yet. But this debut might just be your next favourite show

As a Chinese Tang dynasty poet once wrote:
“Fear not, fair soul, for lonely ways ahead;
For hearts attuned shall answer unto thine.”

The Last Self Tape is a fresh beginning for everyone involved – for the stage, the team, and the audience alike. It’s a chance to witness a new voice in theatre – bold, honest, and quietly unforgettable.

You’ll laugh, you’ll recognise something familiar, and you’ll leave feeling strangely seen.

So, on 27 or 28 November at 7:30pm, come spend an hour at the Cockpit – you won’t regret it.

Tickets are on sale below.